Romans 9

There are well over one hundred names for Jesus in the Bible, names like Almighty God, Blessed Ruler, Chief Cornerstone, Faithful Witness, Good Shepherd, High Priest, Image of God, King Eternal, Lamb of God, Light of the World, Lion of Judah, Lord of All, Morning Star, Our Righteousness, Prince of Peace, Savior, Son, Truth, and Word. As we work through the old and new testaments, we encounter names that celebrate the attributes of Christ that inspire worship. Until we arrive at the final verses of Romans 9.

Stone of Stumbling.

Rock of Offense.

These names give us pause...but they shouldn't. Instead, they should inspire our worship. Paul reminds us that many people pursue God's law, hoping it will "lead to righteousness," hoping to boast that they have attained perfection and earned God's love. However, the idea that God only loves the perfect is the exact misunderstanding Christ came to remove. John 1 tells us "the world did not know [God]" and that Christ came to "make him known."
What is it that we don't know that God had to come in the flesh to teach us?

We must always remember that the world teaches us that every good thing in life is earned. We earn forgiveness, acceptance, trust, friendship, love, confidence, respect, and reward. We revere people who have earned greatness and we often view those who have received a free ride with scorn and contempt. The concept of unearned greatness is offensive to us. This is a worldly perspective driven by human pride and we must always remember that the broken world we live in teaches us to see God from this perspective.

How do we break free from this worldly mindset when it is everywhere we look around us?

Enter the stumbling stone.

Receipt of God's forgiveness, acceptance, trust, friendship, love, confidence, respect, and reward "depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy" and who desires to call us "beloved."

Free grace. How offensive.

Romans 8

I just spent an afternoon at the Scottish Highland Games in Pleasanton, California. If sports are your interest, you can watch kilted athletes of Scottish descent compete in the stone put, hammer throw, and caber toss. If you are a patron of the arts, you can watch the drum and piper corps or the dancing troupes. If you are an animal lover, there are the sheepdog trials and the falconer demonstrations to attend.

I saw a bit of everything but spent most of my time learning about my ancestors, who were actually lowlanders from the districts of Aberdeenshire, Angus, and Fife. What impressed me most was the sense of family. If you share a last name that falls under a Scottish clan, members consider you family, encourage you to wear the family tartan, and invite you to family get-togethers. They want to know everything about you and vice versa.

It is good to belong to a family.

The apostle tells us we have "received the Spirit of adoption" and have become "children of God" and "heirs with Christ." Did you know that when you choose to believe in Christ, you enter his family as a beloved child, entitled to all the rights of the firstborn son, the most important right being unbroken contact between you and your God? Within us is a Spirit that "helps [us] in [our] weakness...to be conformed to the image of [the] Son." 

We live in a world filled with broken families...but not this family.

Nothing...not "death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Your family privileges include victory over the hardships that exist in this broken world. We are "more than conquerors through him who loved us."

Wear your tartan.

You're family now.